The Meeting Place

When the chord of August resonates low and unrelenting, and summer figures blend into landscapes like climbing vines, we surrender to the swarms of insects and bloodless afternoons that mark Arkansas summers. In these moments of consuming heat, where do we meet, and who do we hold onto? The river becomes our sanctuary—a democratic space where my community gathers to escape the heat, to sing, to swim, to find both connection and solitude.

The river allows me to explore multiple states of being. In painting swimmers, I dig into the sensuality of flesh while preserving each subject's individuality through their personal markers—their swimsuits, tattoos, and their unique relationship to the water. Some pieces explore swimming as transcendence, a complete unity with the world, while others investigate the intricate relationship between human bodies and their environment.

Working in a documentary style that honors the deep history of figurative painting, I capture intimate moments of human connection against the backdrop of the American South. My subjects emerge from my immediate community, their presence coloring both my experience and narrative. Realism anchors the work, yet upon closer inspection, carefully rendered figures frequently dissolve into abstraction.

My technical approach amplifies seemingly mundane moments into the exceptional. Limited palettes intensify mood and dissolve figures into their environments. Glazes act like atmospheric elements: warm yellows settle like sunlight on skin, and greens envelop the swimmers. Some paintings stack detail that pushes forward, while others live within a tight value range, feeling profoundly atmospheric. Drawing from my plein air practice, I work directly from life to add another layer of witness and urgency.

Poetry and music, particularly regional works, flow as constant undercurrents through my practice. Like poetry, my paintings inhabit an unnameable space where wisdom, experience, and sensation compress into singular moments. Drawing imagery from artists who have responded to this same land provides comfort and continuity. Raised in a close-knit Little Rock community, with childhood hours spent in my painter father's studio above a pizza-joint-turned-music-venue, I seek to honor the complexities of home and community. The hum of music below and solvents in the air still populate my mind as I paint.

Through this work, I propose love and comfort as forms of protest, finding beauty in this region without succumbing to nostalgia. My figures enact scenes ranging from profound peace to deep tension—one unable to exist without the other. This is my authentic representation of community through a contemporary lens, documenting moments of genuine connection while maintaining awareness of our complex social context.